August 18 Historical Events
The following events took place on August 18. The list is arranged in chronological order.
Found 36 events. Showing 1 - 30.
- 684Battle of Marj Rahit: Umayyad partisans defeat the supporters of Ibn al-Zubayr and cement Umayyad control of Syria.
- 1304The Battle of Mons-en-Pévèle is fought to a draw between the French army and the Flemish militias.
- 1487The Siege of Málaga ends with the taking of the city by Castilian and Aragonese forces.
- 1572Marriage in Paris, France, of the Huguenot King Henry III of Navarre to Margaret of Valois, in a supposed attempt to reconcile Protestants and Catholics.
- 1587Virginia Dare, granddaughter of Governor John White of the Colony of Roanoke, becomes the first English child born in the Americas.
- 1590John White, the governor of the Roanoke Colony, returns from a supply trip to England and finds his settlement deserted.
- 1612The trial of the Pendle witches, one of England’s most famous witch trials, begins at Lancaster Assizes.
- 1634Urbain Grandier, accused and convicted of sorcery, is burned alive in Loudun, France.
- 1783A huge fireball meteor is seen across Great Britain as it passes over the east coast.
- 1838The Wilkes Expedition, which would explore the Puget Sound and Antarctica, weighs anchor at Hampton Roads.
- 1848Camila O'Gorman and Ladislao Gutierrez are executed on the orders of Argentine dictator Juan Manuel de Rosas.
- 1864American Civil War: Battle of Globe Tavern: Union forces try to cut a vital Confederate supply-line into Petersburg, Virginia, by attacking the Wilmington and Weldon Railroad.
- 1868French astronomer Pierre Janssen discovers helium.
- 1870Franco-Prussian War: Battle of Gravelotte is fought.
- 1877Asaph Hall discovers Martian moon Phobos.
- 1891Major hurricane strikes Martinique, leaving 700 dead.
- 1903German engineer Karl Jatho allegedly flies his self-made, motored gliding airplane four months before the first flight of the Wright brothers.
- 1917A Great Fire in Thessaloniki, Greece destroys 32% of the city leaving 70,000 individuals homeless.
- 1920The Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified, guaranteeing women’s suffrage.
- 1938The Thousand Islands Bridge, connecting New York, United States with Ontario, Canada over the Saint Lawrence River, is dedicated by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
- 1940World War II: The Hardest Day air battle, part of the Battle of Britain. At that point, the largest aerial engagement in history with heavy losses sustained on both sides.
- 1945Sukarno takes office as the first president of Indonesia, following the country’s declaration of independence the previous day.
- 1950Julien Lahaut, the chairman of the Communist Party of Belgium is assassinated by far-right elements.
- 1958Vladimir Nabokov’s controversial novel Lolita is published in the United States.
- 1958Brojen Das from Bangladesh swims across the English Channel in a competition, as the first Bengali and the first Asian to do so. He came first among 39 competitors.
- 1963American civil rights movement: James Meredith becomes the first black person to graduate from the University of Mississippi.
- 1965Vietnam War: Operation Starlite begins: United States Marines destroy a Viet Cong stronghold on the Van Tuong peninsula in the first major American ground battle of the war.
- 1966Vietnam War: The Battle of Long Tan ensues after a patrol from the 6th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment clashes with a Viet Cong force in Phước Tuy Province.
- 1971Vietnam War: Australia and New Zealand decide to withdraw their troops from Vietnam.
- 1976In the Korean Demilitarized Zone at Panmunjom, the Axe murder incident results in the death of two US soldiers.
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